Meeting with Member State experts on Life Cycle Assessment of fuel in relation to Article 7a of proposal COM 2007(18) 17 July 2007 European Commission

Purpose of the meeting Disseminate information on application of life cycle approach to fuel. Create awareness of the state of the art with life cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from fuel. Create awareness of state of the art of greenhouse gas reporting tools for fuels. Discuss practical issues with experts.

What is Life Cycle Assessment The assessment of the environmental impact of a given product or service throughout its lifespan. The goal is to compare the environmental performance of products and services, to be able to choose the least burdensome one. It requires the assessment of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps. (source Wikipedia)

LCA example for jeans cotton cultivation and harvesting Transport (impacts: water quality, waste, pollutant emissions, GHG emissions) Transport (impacts: pollutant emissions, GHG emissions) denim production jeans manufacture Distribution

GHG reduction mechanism - rationale Transport fuel contribution by reducing GHG intensity Ensure changes in fuels (e.g. tar sands, coal to liquid etc.) don’t lead to increases in GHG intensity Sectoral approach – not subject to international competition, encourage innovation. Maximum flexibility

Article 7a Requires reporting of lifecycle GHG emissions from fuel supplied from 2009 Mandatory obligation on supplier to reduce emissions from 2011. Methodology to be developed through Committee Reduction obligation proposed: Starts at 1% per year in 2011 Obligation increases each year by 1% In 2020 life cycle GHG from fuel would be 90% that in 2010.

FQD proposed Article 7a Proposes a life cycle assessment approach to fuel However, only addresses Greenhouse Gas emissions

Scope Extraction / cultivation Transport Processing Fuel composition Distribution

Reporting Monitoring and reporting Obligation is on ‘suppliers’ (MS) level Single, simple methodology defined at EU level Reporting emissions already an obligation for refineries under EU ETS Possible default values where appropriate (suppliers could provide actual data if preferred) From 1/1/2009 Verification obligation on MS

“State of the art” Well-to wheel study carried out by JRC-EUCAR-CONCAWE DE/NL/UK preparing tools to report on lifecycle GHG balance for biofuels. CA working on development of Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Some important issues in relation to life cycle assessment of fuel GHG Where are the boundaries of the system? Reference situation How is land-use change dealt with? How are emissions due to co-products treated? Time periods for greenhouse gasses. Availability of information Dealing with uncertainty Trade-off between complexity and accuracy

Thank you for your attention